Chronicle: Welcome Oblivion
by JaketimusPrime
Summary: This story follows immediately after the film ends and with what I believe to be what happens next. Canon pairings. M for mature. Title subject to change, cover image coming soon.
1. 1 - Foreword & Information

Hi everyone. I've had the idea for this story planned for quite some time now but I wanted to actually sit down and rewatch the film to get in the mood to actually flesh the whole thing out and so I did, and now here I am.

This story takes place immediately after the film ends and it's as if it were to keep going, based on what I believe would happen next. All characters copyright to John Trank and Max Landis unless stated otherwise. All pairings will be canon, or as canon as I can keep them with what information we have. This story will likely take some time to write because I'm planning on doing research into Tibetan lore and history to try and stay as true and factual as possible while still making this entertaining. So far I've read the Tibetan book of the dead to begin my search into the deep culture and history.

If you have any ideas, thoughts, or critique I'd love to hear it! Feel free to PM me or leave a review. Thank you!

This fanfic is rated M for mature 16+ - It will likely contain strong language, violence, and moderately sexual content at some points.


	2. 2 - A Changed Decision

"_Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity." -Edward Gibbon_

Matt let out another howl, his breath visible in front of him as the sound carried around him, bouncing from each alabaster sheathed mountainside to mountainside. It echoed, fading rapidly with each reverb, until it wasn't able to be heard anymore. The teenager shifted the backpack on his shoulder and started down the path leading toward the town and monasteries but as his feet carried him away he felt a pulling sensation deep within his chest. Something was urging him to go back. _I can't just leave it.._ He stopped in his tracks, imprints of his boots in the snow leading up to him and coming away from the tripod. His mouth twisted to the side as he mulled it over, his cheeks already flushed from the cold that was biting at him with no mercy. _You need to make your mind up quick before you get frostbite_. Matt looked over his shoulder and for a moment in the white powdery snow that was being blown in sheets around the area he could have sworn he saw a figure standing there, looking at him. His brows furrowed and he held a hand up to cup around his eyes to try and shield some of the blinding white light that came from the reflection of the sun on the snow. His eyes scanned the area, looking past the camera but nothing was there. _Great, now you're going crazy too_. He shook his head for clarity, and to shove the bitter remarks he was giving himself away too. A heavy sigh escaped him, his breath visible once again as it ventured out into the cold vast openness - not unlike him in this situation.

"Alright.." He spoke quietly to himself, turning completely and walking back over to the camera and reaching out with a gloved hand to grab it and unfasten it from the tripod. "Andrew I uhh.." He started, his eyes going from the lens down to the ground for a moment while he thought of what to say next, "I think on second thought, I'm gunna keep this. I'm gunna keep doing it, man." The camera shifted awkwardly as he plucked it from the stand and held it aloft. He smiled somewhat bitterly before letting out a huff of air like he was trying not to laugh, "I mean I'm not that good at it.. Ya know, it was definitely your thing not mine.. But uh.." He stopped again, turning his head to glance off into the distance. "It would feel like a disservice to you to just leave all these memories behind and not keep them going. Like this story is over now or something now that you're gone.. And it's not, so.. yeah." _And I don't know what I would do if someone was to find this._ There was a reasonable part in the back of his mind telling him that leaving this vital piece of information up here for someone to happen upon was dangerous, even though the likelihood of it being salvageable by the time someone would find it was quite low. He knew that the real reason he couldn't leave it here was because he felt naked without it. It was a part of his reality now. On this piece of machinery was their _everything._ Their rise, their hubris that eventually lead them to their _hamartia._ That being another word that Matt had to google in his spare time, but something Andrew would have already known.

"Yeah." He finalized, now turning to look back at the camera. "So, I'm gunna do that. For you. I love you, man." He pointed a gloved finger at the camera before reaching over and pressing the record button to finish up this tape quickly - he was running out of words to say and he didn't want to get choked up and have to figure out how to edit that part out. Once the camera wasn't rolling anymore his apathetic look shifted and his inner turmoil showed some. The young man felt a bubble of sorrow swell up inside his chest that caused him to bite down into his lower lip to keep from reacting. Or was that worry he was feeling? Worry for the future and what it held. Only time would tell.

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I know this one's a little short, they'll get longer as the story progresses. I just wanted to make everything as concise as possible and easy to read so please bear with me. Thank you!


	3. 3 - Foreign Land

"_For man is man and master of his fate." -Tennyson_

On the trek down the mountainside Matt had a lot of time to think, and he chose to walk for the remainder of this journey rather than fly for multiple reasons; One.. it's probably best not to scare the monks this early on into his journey and two.. he needed this time to just disassociate and reflect on everything that had transpired. He'd left so suddenly that he didn't have time to process anything. However, the third reason seemed to be the most important to him. He wanted to retain what amount of normality he could now that everything had changed. With friends it was fun, acting like idiots and testing their strengths with this thing they all shared.. But now the time had come to _grow up_ about it. It wasn't about fun anymore. It was about survival. He was alone. The muffled sounds of the snow crunching under his boots and his breathing were the only things that could be heard as he navigated the slopes of this behemoth of a mountain. It was peaceful but eerie, though it did give him a perfect opportunity to get lost in thought. _What the hell am I going to do?_ As his mind drifted he imagined the look on his cousin's face if he were here sharing this moment with him like they had planned to do. It brought up a painful feeling in inside him which he quickly squashed, moving onto another miscellaneous thought to satiate him in this quiet walk.

Matt realized just how out of his element he was about to be here. He only had american currency and some food he'd stolen from his kitchen before flying out the other night. The bitter visuals of him shoving nutrition bars and random cans from the pantry into his backpack littered his mind and he rolled his eyes as if to shoo it away in an embarrassed manner. The young man was realizing that he was, without a doubt, in over his head here.

No more than a couple hours later he would be nearing the village that sat several hundred feet below the monastery. It wasn't as cold down here as it was where he'd landed earlier, the frost that had collected on his eyelashes had long since vanished with the change in temperature but his boots were still caked with ice and snow to add evidence of his descent down the _behemoth_ of a mountain. Some townspeople were out walking, carrying about their day to day life and upon seeing them immediately Matt felt a pit form in his stomach. _What if they know?_ That's completely possible - but highly unlikely. He noted the fact that he hadn't seen any powerlines.. Anywhere for that matter. This place was just so desolate that they didn't seem to have the resources for it. Or maybe they didn't want it. One thing would be certain he now realized; the nights here would be _frigid_ without the luxury of modern technology like electricity_._ Matt's foot falls were now meeting dirt instead of snow, though it was still sporadically spread out here and in lumps near the stone walls that surrounded the town. The walls were somewhat broken in various places, having fallen or been destroyed by unknown forces or the elements only to lay scattered and collect more falling snow over the passing days.

For the most part nobody noticed him yet but that didn't quash his worry, he would still reach back to yank his hood up over his head just in case. As his hand reached back he would smack his covered knuckles against the tri-pod frame sticking out from his backpack, causing him to curse under his breath before attempting to shroud his face in the shadow of the hood. However, this attempt would be in vain because the light coming down from above was reflecting off the patches of snow and lighting up the bottom of his face, thus drawing attention to himself. As he passed by the townspeople they turned to look at him, as he obviously looked completely different from him in terms of dress and nationality. Matt tried to avoid eye-contact by staying as rigid as possible as he passed but the curiosity got the better of him and he shot a side-eyed glance at a woman bundled up from head to toe. Her expression was full of confusion and her brows knit together. The young man quickly averted his eyes and swallowed hard, urging his pace to quicken as to escape the area and find shelter as soon as possible to get out of sight. The buildings around him varied from ramshackle wood to sturdy stone architecture, but he doubted that any of the studier buildings would be vacant. He had no money and no money meant no warm bed to sleep in so he would have to make do with what he could. More people would look at him funny as he passed, some whispering in another language to each other - likely about him. He didn't care, as long as nobody tried to start anything with him he wouldn't have a problem here.

The stares that were thrown his way were getting more and more intense as he pushed further into town. _You should have at least made yourself approachable looking, or said hi or something._ No, that would be ridiculous. Matt knew that the chances of anyone here speaking English were next to none so any attempt to communicate would be useless. One thing the young man was beginning to realize was how _normal_ everyone looked here. He had expected this far away land Andrew used to speak of to be full of bald men in robes with some weird mysticism about them. So far all he'd seen were tired looking men and women with their children. Even some livestock like horses and cows, but no floating men defying the laws of nature like he expected. _Except for me._ Another pang of sorrow rose up inside him and he felt his fists clench around the straps of his backpack. _Not here, not now._ As the emotions inside him rose his urgency would too and so he would speed up into a heavy jog. The increase in activity alerted him to just how _tired_ he was too. Since the night he'd left after Andrew's death he hadn't stopped running and flying and the journey was now wearing harshly on his soul and bones. Nowhere was empty looking, every home seemed to be occupied and with each one he passed his hopes would diminish. Some of the buildings even had light emitting from them that he could see over the bright reflections coming up from the snow patches on the ground. _Fire? Oh no, I don't know how good I am at building a fire._ Matt was in boy scouts when he was younger but all that stuff never stuck with him. Had he known that these would be the cards life dealt him maybe he would have tried to retain more from those days as to aid in his survival now. _Maybe I could do without a fire. It's not that cold._ Not yet.

Suddenly, as his pace was picking up, he would feel something warm drop onto his bottom lip and it caused him to suck in an almost painfully cold breath through his nose in response. It sounded unusually wet. A gloved finger reached up and he wiped at his nose curiously, then upon pulling it back he would see bright red blood which was quite starkly contrasted from the innocence and tranquility of the snow and dirt that surrounded him. _Oh shit._ Matt realized that his nosebleed was only getting worse with each moment and that the people who still had eyes on him were only growing more concerned as blood began to paint the front of his coat as well. _This is bad._ He knew that he had to find cover _now_, so he took the first opportunity he could and ducked around the corner of some ramshackle wooden looking building. With his backpack pressed against the wall, some snow that had collected on the ridges of the dark wood of the building would be disturbed enough to fall, and his whole gloved fist was smooshed up against his face in a vain attempt to stop the inevitable. The blood had begun to smear, making him look like a monochromatic Jackson Pollock painting. _What the hell is going on?_ His first instinct was that this was one of his friends in trouble somehow. _But they're both dead._ His next idea was that the altitude was screwing with him which made much more sense. That had to be it. Surely the strenuous journey, stress, and lack of nutrition had some say in this as well. His heartbeat was pounding in his ears and the world around him was eclipsed by the ringing sound that had now taken residence, having to ride the waves until it passed. The young man turned his head and glanced around behind the building, seeing nobody and he breathed a sigh of relief. _Just slip inside. If you screw up you can just fly outta here and never look back._ He mentally pep talked himself, blinking hard and looking up at the sky from under his hood. Without another moment of hesitation he would slip around the front and shove the door open.

It opened with ease and he almost fell in, half expecting there to be a struggle. His boots skid on the wet, cakey dirt of the interior floor and he stumbled, one hand on his blood stained face and the other gripped tight onto the metal handle of the door. It was dark in here but the room was small enough so that it wouldn't be hard to see with the door wide open like this. Barrels and sacks of god knows what were stored in here. As his mind cleared from the _situation_ that he'd just dealt with he realized that this was likely a place where the townspeople kept their supplies. Matt knew that the building would be cramped based on how the outside looked but he didn't expect _this_. _At least it's not occupied._ A voice in the back of his mind scolded him for that vapid thought. Why would he even begin to assume that someone resided in a building this tiny? It barely passed as a storage shed by his standards. Matt shook his head a little to clear the jumble of stupid thoughts that were battling one another inside his mind. _Man this trip already has you going insane._ The annoying ringing in his ears was now fading and with it's leave it also took some worry from him.

Without removing his hand from the handle he would shut the door, pushing his weight against it until he was certain that it was sealed. The sturdy wood scraped against itself, making a thump once the door hit the frame. Instantly with the vicious wind off his face Matt would feel warmer, the redness in his nose and cheeks were skewed by the blood but he could tell that his face was flushed. Speaking of warmth; the young man pulled his gloved hand back from his nose to assess the damage of that nasty nosebleed. It looked like that scene from Carrie and caused him to wince in an annoyed manner. That happened to be the only scene that Matt remembered from that movie. A couple months ago Steve had suggested they all sit down and watch this cult classic that Andrew had never seen, and he explained how it related to them with their gifts. Steve was honestly surprised that the two cousins had never seen it before, the look on his buddy's face lit up in his memories as had Andrew threw his hands up in defeat to the almost _demand_ that they all watch it together one night. Laughter had ensued, the memory coming from a very warm and tender spot in his mind and here in the present he would then feel his eyes welling up a little as he reacted to reliving that moment.

It took a moment for Matt to come back down to reality, not aware of how long he'd been standing there. The nosebleed was over now thank goodness, but he had no means nor care in the world to worry about it currently. He was out of sight which is all that mattered to him now. Exhaustion overtook him and he found himself feeling more and more sluggish as the adrenaline wore off. Matt unslung the backpack from his back and let it drop haphazardly to the dirt next to his boots before moving to lower himself into a sit on the ground with his back against a sack of something unidentified. Grain maybe? He didn't know nor did he care about that either. As soon as his rear hit the dirt and his back against a somewhat soft surface he felt a wave of comfort rush over him. He greeted it like an old friend, letting another long sigh escape him as his eyes fluttered closed temporarily.

This was the first moment in days that he'd had time to just sit and reflect. His eyes, now open again, were still glassy from the surge of emotions and searching the walls around him for answers to a question he had yet to ask. Matt would have liked to consider himself an adult, but realistically he knew that he was still truly just a teenager. A lost, scared kid with nothing anymore. No one to confide in and no one to even talk to. His lower lip quivered and his ears grew hot as he sat there in the dirt feeling helpless. The young man's eyes shifted down from the walls, feeling the closeness of them to be just a little too overwhelming right now. Tears threatened to fall as everything came rushing back to him. Images of a couple nights ago filling his mind; his cousin's face and the look of despair as he died, the look on Casey's face as she watched him fly away one last time, and the look on everyone's face as Andrew destroyed everything. These were things that no teenager should ever have to endure. The worst thing he recalled from that fateful night however were the sounds; Glass shattering, people screaming, police sirens, his exasperated breathing and pleas going unheard by Andrew. It was moments like this when he wished he still at least has Steve in his life. Steve was such a cool-cat that he always knew what to say and how to make everything feel alright again, even if it really wasn't. His mind was reeling and he was completely overtaken by his emotions, so much that he let his forehead thump against the wall next to him as he sobbed. The harsh wood wasn't gentle on his wind-raped skin. A few moments passed and Matt dropped his hands into his lap to close his eyes, forcing tears down his blood stained face. He was a mess and he feared that the worst was still yet to come. In fact he knew it, as his stomach was beginning to gnaw at itself and he felt his mouth was dry and dehydrated.

Somehow through all of the emotional turmoil he wound up drifting off to sleep. Perhaps it was enough stress to just shut him down for the time being, and he most certainly needed it. For the first time in almost four days Matt was at peace. His jaw was slack and his eyes flitted back and forth under his eyelids, dreaming vividly of the days past. Tomorrow started a whole new day and a whole new set of struggles that he would have to navigate.. And he wasn't sure if he was ready or not.

Thank you all for the interest in this fanfic! I hope you're enjoying it so far. More will be coming soon so please stay tuned!


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